Hegseth Orders Sweeping Overhaul of Professional Military Education, Scrapping Lifetime Tenure for New Civilian Faculty
The U.S. Department of War announced on November 9 that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed a comprehensive overhaul of the Department's Professional Military Education (PME) system, covering all Senior Service Colleges and Intermediate Level Education (ILE) institutions. The Department said the directive follows a rigorous review by the Senior Service College Task Force and is meant to reverse decades of academic drift, eliminate ideological distractions, and refocus the schools on joint warfighting mastery, decision-forcing rigor, and competitive wargaming.
Under the new guidelines, the Department will evaluate military schools by a single standard: "Does this program forge leaders who will win America's wars?"
The implementation plan has four parts. First, Warfighters in the Classroom: elite "Warfighter Chair" positions will be established at all senior colleges, filled by high-performing O-5 and O-6 commanders fresh from operational deployments. Second, Mandatory Wargaming and Exams: subjective seminar grading will be replaced by rigorous, standardized end-of-course wargames and comprehensive exams. Third, Faculty Accountability: lifetime tenure and emeritus status will be eliminated for newly hired civilian faculty, shifting instead to three-year, performance-based contracts evaluated on teaching effectiveness and national security research. Fourth, Rigorous Governance Oversight: the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness will directly track all tasked requirements to guarantee rapid execution.
The Department said the full memorandum was released with the announcement.
Source: U.S. Department of War
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国战争部总部五角大楼。David B. Gleason 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War. By David B. Gleason, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
